


So are demons a thing now?

by Solarisetlesetoiles



Series: Jason and Tim vs. the supernatural [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Demons, M/M, Slow Burn, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 07:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20617331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solarisetlesetoiles/pseuds/Solarisetlesetoiles
Summary: Tim's been investigating a string of odd murders when he runs into Jason Todd fighting some strange goons. Things spiral from there





	1. The unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first work for this fandom. I've been reading a lot of JayTim stuff, and I'm really excited to post my own.
> 
> I was a little hesitant to post this as a JayTim work because this is a very slow burn, and the characters aren't even together by the end. But it is part of a series where they do get together, so I think it makes sense to tag as the relationship.

The whole thing starts with a strange homicide case. 

Usually, homicide would be, regrettably, normal in Gotham. Because you know… most crime-ridden city on earth and all that jazz. 

But this one was weird. There was no explainable cause of death. 

The victims were two perfectly healthy people. Chris Jones, and Sia Riley. College students out on a date, near Robbinsville. 

Tim Drake, Red Robin, former Robin, was baffled. 

The pair didn’t have any wounds, no drugs in their systems, no signs of strangling, nothing. Just some light bruising, like they had gotten in a fight. Nothing serious enough to cause death. 

If Tim was being honest, it sort of reminded him of the killing curse from Harry Potter, bodies that just dropped dead. 

Tim was currently skimming the police databases for similar cases. Because maybe there was some new killer out on the streets. Magic users did exist, and so did aliens. Hell, Tim’s best friend was a bulletproof alien who could fly so…

Annnd look at that, more victims who had died in the same strange way. But the strange killings just hadn’t made the news because the victims were people who no one would miss: homeless people, prostitutes, and runaways. 

Tim leaned back in his chair and sighed in frustration as he stretched. 

The heroes of Gotham weren’t infallible, and too often the most vulnerable people slipped through the cracks, while Batman and his allies fought the flashier villains. 

Tim shook his hands to get the strain of typing to go away. At this rate, he was going to develop carpal tunnel syndrome for sure. 

He shuddered and rose from his chair to amble to his kitchen to grab a cup of coffee.

The caffeine from the one he’d had at lunch had worn off, and if Tim didn’t want to go into caffeine withdrawal, he needed to have another cup before he went on patrol. 

As he waited for the coffee machine, he reviewed the locations of the last murders. There were a lot of cases matching the one he’d been looking at out near the narrows. So Tim decided to start his investigation there. 

*** 

Later he was swinging through the cool Gotham air; it occurred to him that this case could be dangerous and that he should maybe call for backup. 

But right after that though he remembered that he wasn’t on speaking terms with Dick, and Bruce was too distracted by a recent break out at Arkham. 

Also, he really didn’t want to go anywhere Damian was. That kid was out for Tim’s blood and Dick, Tim’s supposed older brother, didn’t seem to notice. 

It was all;

“try to be understanding Tim; he’s had a tough childhood.”

“He’s just trying to get a rise out of you.”

And Tim’s personal favorite: 

“You’re older than him, don’t sink down to his level.”

Ugh. 

The thought of Dick and Damian made Tim’s blood boil, no he was still not over being fired, thank you very much. 

But those thoughts left him as his ears picked up the sound of a brawl. Firing a new grapple line, Tim angled his body and swung left. He landed atop an old apartment complex and above an ally where Jason Todd, the Red Hood, was fighting several men and women.

Well crap. Usually, Tim would nope the hell out of any situation involving Jason, because if Damian was an avid member of the I hate Tim Drake club, Jason was the goddamn president. 

What sucked was Jason maybe kinda sorta had a justification for all that hate. Like Tim totally understood now how awful it felt to be replaced. 

So yeah, Jason did have some justification for being angry, even though no one could have predicted his zombie ass returning from the grave. Even though Batman needed a Robin, and Tim was the only one who could see that. 

But still, just because Tim was still bitter about being replaced didn’t mean he wanted to kill Damian, even though he really wanted to punch the demon brat in his smug little face. 

But Jason totally was bitter enough to kill Tim. Hell if someone gave him Tim’s head on a pike, he’d probably be thrilled. Tim turned to leave and hoped Jason would be too distracted by the ass whooping he was delivering to notice him.

But then he heard Jason cry out and a sickening thud follow. Part of Tim wanted to run, just leave Jason and hope he could get himself out of trouble on his own. But a bigger part, the one that drove Tim to follow Batman and Robin, to march up to Batman himself and demand to help, the part of him that was hero, couldn’t leave a person in trouble. Even the guy that had tried to kill him twice. 

So he leaped into the ally. A quick glance around told him that there were five opponents. It was weird because they weren’t particularly muscular and usually Jason could have handled these guys easily.

Tim’s guard was immediately up. But he put on a cocky smile and raised his bow staff, 

“Now, fellas, don’t you know it’s not nice to gang up on people?” 

The goons regarded him. There was something off about them. Maybe it was the smug looks on their faces. Run of the mill minions didn’t smile like that when Bats showed up.

One of the goons pulled a huge grin. It wasn’t a good look. Maybe this had something to do with the Joker? 

Then they all charged. 

Tim figured out pretty fast why Jason was having so much trouble before. These guys were much stronger than they looked. Tim figured this little tidbit out when one grabbed his cape and flung him. 

Tim flipped mid-air and landed on his feet, smacking an oncoming goon in the face when he tried to punch him. 

Another ran at Tim from behind, he dodged and hit her on the back of the knee. She crashed into a third goon. These people weren’t trained. And while they had unreal strength, they weren’t as agile as he was. 

So Tim was able to jump and dodge and send them crashing into one another. But he became overconfident. And one of the goons he had previously knocked down got a hand on his cape. Tim flailed as he was jerked back.

But then, suddenly, the goon let go, crying out in pain. Tim turned to see the goon clutching his side where a knife protruded. Above him stood Jason. 

Jason’s dramatic entry was cut short when the fourth goon charged him. Jason jumped back and tried to throw another punch. Goon number four went down. But Tim was distracted by goons number two and three getting a second wind charging at him.

He dogged their attacks and somehow ended up back to back with Jason. Surprisingly, their fighting styles meshed pretty well. Tim was good at longer ranged attacks thanks to his bow staff, so he could cover Jason as he threw brutal punches and kicks, that, had they been fighting normal enemies, would have been very effective. 

Still, between the two of them, it looked like they could win. Until an unremarkable grey van showed up at the other end of the ally, the three goons they had been fighting, and hadn’t there been five, turned and headed for the van. 

Tim noticed that that goon number one was conspicuously missing along with the goon Jason had stabbed. Belatedly he realized that goon number one must have called for backup.

But before either of them could pursue their fleeing adversaries, a smoke bomb was tossed, forcing them to leap back. Tim had to cover his face with his cape. But Jason charged on.

He raced after the van, out of the alley, and onto the sidewalk, Tim caught up to him a few seconds later. Just in time to see the van disappear around a corner.

Beside Tim, Jason slammed his fist into the building’s wall. An angry growl escaped from him, with his voice modulator it sounded like a car crash. 

Then he whirled around to face Tim.

“_Fuck you replacement! I had everything under control_!” Jason raged. __

_ _“Oh yeah. You were totally winning before I showed up!” Tim snarked, internally wincing. Great idea Tim, sass the guy that’s out for your blood. What brilliance. _ _

_ _“_Shut the fuck up pretender, you don’t have a clue what yer messing with! Keep yer nosy fuckin ass out of my business and stay the fuck away from me_!” Jason took a menacing step towards him. ___ _

_ _ _ _Tim raised his bow staff, readying himself for the inevitable attack. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _But it never came. Instead, Jason just snorted and turned on his heel. Tim watched him fire his grapple and disappear into the night. When Jason was out of sight, Tim released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Signing Tim readied his own grapple and decided to head back to his safe house. He figured he should check the traffic cams to see if they picked up the license plate of the van. The strength of those goons was something that definitely needed to be investigated, especially if they were involved with one of the bigger villains._ _ _ _


	2. Investigation

“-and that is why Wayne industries should collaborate with Dall inc to-” Edmund Dallas had been speaking for what felt like an eternity. Tim’s coffee was the only thing keeping him from screeching indecipherable noises and running from the room as fast as possible. 

“-what do think Mr. Drake-Wayne?” Oh, he needed to respond, Tim grasped for something diplomatically polite to say. 

“Well Mr. Dallas, you’ve certainly given us much to think about. Thank you for your presentation.” 

Nailed it. 

Though Tim really wished he sounded less like one of those cartoonishly exaggerated businessmen that always showed up as the villains in movies about plucky underdogs. 

Mr. Dallas was a balding middle-aged man, with a combover and fake tan. When he smiled, Tim could tell he had braces as a child. 

“No, thank you, Mr. Drake-Wayne. Please take all the time you need.” He continued to smile, clearly very confident that his proposal would be accepted. It raised the hairs on the back of Tim’s neck. Up until last week Dall industries had been on the verge of bankruptcy, now suddenly, they were a major player in the tech industry. 

Tim suspected foul play; he’d looked into Dall inc, but hadn’t found anything suspicious. It bothered him, so much so that he’d agreed to a meeting with the head of the company, a one Mr. Edmund Dallas, to see if he could learn anything. 

Tim was deeply regretting the decision though, because Mr. Dallas had started out by talking about Tim’s deceased parent's, offering his condolences, “_-it was a real tragedy, what happened to your father, especially after all he’d survived_.” Thankfully Lucius Fox, the right-hand man to Bruce Wayne and old family friend, was there to steer the conversation into less painful topics. 

In fact, he was still saving Tim’s butt as he distracted Mr. Dallas, escorting the man out and letting Tim collect his wits.

Tim breathed out a sigh of relief when they were gone and slumped down in his chair. Idly he noticed his coffee mug was empty, rubbing his tired eyes he slowly rose from his seat and went to go find more. 

As Tim trudged down the halls, he mentally cursed the sun and its blinding light. He felt like the universe was screwing with him because normally, days in Gotham were cloudy, but nooo not today. Not when he was only running on caffeine because he had been up all night, first out on patrol, then working on tracking the mysterious goons’ van. 

Whoever they were, they were somewhat intelligent. They had been smart enough to rent the van from a local rental company, Wheels ‘R ‘Us, under a false name. Tim had his computer back at his safe house in the remodelled theater running through the previous clientele trying to figure out who the fakes were. It was a pretty great program if Tim did say so himself. It would take the names of the clients and cross-reference them with people in the city. Hopefully it would be able to determine who the mystery goons were.

Tim opened the door to his office. He really had no idea why he was still working at Wayne enterprises, but nevertheless, here he was. 

Initially, he had taken over to prevent Wayne enterprises from falling into the hands of Ra's Al Ghul. 

Bruce wasn’t around because he had been thought dead. He wasn’t, actually, Tim proved that, but it didn’t matter now. Damian was still Robin. 

Sinking into his chair, Tim quietly thanked the heavens that he had his own personal coffee maker in his office; otherwise everything would be just the worst. 

Taking a long drag from his cup, Tim mentally braced himself for another mind-numbing day, and oh god, it was only ten o’clock.

*** 

Tim finally made it back to his safe house. He made himself another cup of coffee and checked through the data his program had come up with. Turned out, there were a lot more people using fake aliases than had been previously estimated. But that made a twisted kind of sense, because well … Gotham. 

Tim pulled up the Wheels ‘R ‘Us records again to see if he had missed anything. He didn’t think anything had changed, but being methodical had never bitten him in the ass before.

Once again, Tim was proven right, as the company records showed the mystery van had been returned. Now, that was definitely worth investigating. 

Tim downed the last of his coffee and went to suit up. Hopefully, some useful DNA had been left behind. 

*** 

The rental shop didn’t close until eleven, so Tim spent the time before then looking into the mysterious murder cases. There was a whole lot of nothing to be found. It was hard enough to track where the victims had been, let alone find any witnesses.

By the time eleven had rolled around, Tim was frustrated and a little antsy. But hopefully the investigation of Wheels ‘R ‘Us would prove fruitful. 

Tim landed in the alley next to the building. It wasn’t particularly impressive or particularly decrepit. Just your average run of the mill Gotham office building, which meant spires and gargoyles, but that was just the Gotham aesthetic. Behind the building was the parking lot that had the rentals. 

Carefully Tim picked the lock on the door and disabled the anti-theft system. The records were kept in the first-floor office, and Tim needed to know which lot the mystery goons’ van was in. 

The computer where the records were kept was an old PC. Tim felt something inside him die. Old technology was always a pain in the ass to work with. Especially if the system of record-keeping was a mess. And it was a mess, a big mess, it took Tim five whole minutes to find the van’s lot number. 

Once he had it, he made his way through the garage, keeping an eye out for security guards or cameras. It was a little eerie moving through the space with only the city lights providing illumination. There were a lot of shadows.

He made it to the van, but he had a small heart attack when he saw the Red Hood already standing in front of the vehicle. 

He tried to fade back into the shadows, but it was too late. Like an old school horror movie, Jason’s red helmet turned and stared him down. 

Tim prepared to run like hell. 

“_Didn’t I tell you to keep yer nosy fuckin ass out of my business_?” Jason didn’t seem to be in an ‘I want to murder Tim Drake the moment I see him’ sort of mood today. More like an ‘I am deeply considering murdering Tim Drake, but I also have other things to do’ sort of mood. Which all things considered was a little comforting. Tim figured it would give him enough time to nope the hell out of the garage as fast as he could. 

But then something terrible happened. Tim’s mouth betrayed him,

“Gotham isn’t just your city Hood, we all need to know about goons with superhuman strength.” 

Tim silently said his goodbyes to Kon and Bart and the rest of the Teen Titans. He hoped they would be okay without him. 

But then Jason surprised him again; he didn’t attempt to murder him. He just walked to the other side of the van.

“_Then why isn’t Daddybats here himself, huh_?” He began to pick the lock on the van.

“That’s because he’s busy tracking down the Arkham escapees.” Tim didn’t know why he hadn’t taken the chance to flee when it had presented itself. Maybe it was the detective in him. He had a burning desire to know. To know what was up with those goons, why they were so strong, he also really wanted to know why Jason hadn’t whipped out one of his guns and threatened to shoot him in the unmentionables.

“_I bet you didn’t tell ‘im yet_” Jason’s mechanized voice startled Tim.

“What’re you talking about, of course I told him.” 

It was a lie. Tim had said nothing to Bruce about the mystery goons.

“_Sure, sure, that why yer here all alone_?” 

This whole conversation was surreal. Tim didn’t think he’d ever had a conversation this long with Jason without also having to fight the man.

“_Anyway, I’ve got this under control so you can just skedaddle off home to the rest of the bat-brats_.” 

Tim considered it. For like 0.2 seconds. But… he couldn’t just leave. Because it had only taken five of those guys to take Jason down. There could be a whole lot more of them for all Tim knew. And whatever they’d been on, it could be produced and distributed. The thought of super goons in the hands of any of Gotham’s rogues makes Tim’s skin crawl. 

“You need backup. It only took five of those goons to give you trouble. You’ve no idea how many more there could be.” Tim was so proud of himself for keeping his voice calm. So proud.

Jason gave a little laugh. It sounded like feedback from a microphone.

“_You volunteering replacement? I wouldn’t count on you to be able to change a lightbulb, let alone have my back in a fight_.” And okay so that stings a little, Tim can so change a lightbulb. 

“I’m not leaving.” He’s not.  
Jason had finished picking the lock at that point. He straightened up and tilted his head to the side. Tim imagined under the helmet he had an eyebrow raised. 

“_Really now, and what’cha gonna do if I decide to run you off_?” 

What was Tim going to do?

“You need my help. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you were beaten by those goons. If I hadn’t been there, your ass would’ve been grass.” Tim was really doing such a good job keeping a calm façade. He should totally buy himself a bag of marshmallows later as a prize for doing such a good job. 

Jason was silent for a long time. Tim started to get worried. Then Jason sighed,

“_Fine pretender. You can tag along. But we do things my way, capiche_?” Tim was surprised Jason agreed so readily. Especially after the way he’d yelled at him the previous night. Still, there were mysteries to solve and evildoers to nab, so Tim put it out of his mind. 

Jason turned back and dragged open the van doors; they were the automatic kind that slid on their own after someone started to move them. 

Tim crept closer to peer over Jason’s shoulder into the van. It was dark inside, and also Jason was really tall up close. 

Jason shifted and pulled a mini flashlight out of his belt. He lit it and shone the light around in the van. 

“_Hey replacement, make yerself useful and check the other side_.” Tim moved obligingly and walked around the front of the van to the other side, as he was passing he took a look at the tires. 

There seemed to be some sort of dust coating the area above the tires. It was a whitish color that caught the lights from the surrounding buildings. Tim took a sample to test later. He also took a sample of the dirt on the tires themselves. 

Hopefully, this would give a hint as to where the mystery goons were.

“_I’m waiting! Stop fuckin daydreaming pretender_!” Jason’s voice cut through Tim’s musings. 

“I was getting samples of dirt on the car! It could give us a lead!” Tim called back. Still, he tucked the samples back into his belt and grabbed his own flashlight. He also pulled out his black light. Hopefully, it would prove useful.

But… nothing. The whole interior of the van was spotless. Jason was grumbling quietly behind Tim as he looked at the company’s website. 

It said they washed the inside of their cars after every use. It looked like for once that wasn’t just bluster to promote sales.

“_Well that was a bust_,” Tim turned around to see Jason walking away.

“Where are you going?” Tim called after him.

“_To get some actual fucking work done_!” Jason yelled back. 

“Wait!” Jason stopped. “Do you want to come back to my safe house while I analyze the dirt samples?” 

“_What dirt samples_?”

“What do you mean what dirt samples? The ones I got off the car- look we can compare case notes too, maybe we can see if there are other instances of the mystery goons reported!” Tim didn’t know why he was even offering. 

Jason was probably ecstatic to leave his presence. He was probably going to shoot him down immedi-

“_Mystery goons…? You know what? Sure replacement, I’ve got nothing better to do_.” Okay then. Jason Todd wanted to go to Tim’s safe house. 

Alright, everything is completely fine and dandy yes sir, Tim most definitely was not hallucinating. He pinched himself just to make sure this wasn’t some strange dream.

“_Well_?” Jason stared at him expectantly. Why was he- oh right the safe house, Tim’s safe house, that Jason wouldn’t have known the way to, riiiight.

Tim made a follow me gesture and shot his grapple gun at a building across the street. He heard Jason do the same. Then without looking back, he jumped into the cool night air.


	3. Team up

“_Huh. Swanky place you got here replacement_,” Jason remarked. Tim needed more coffee. Coffee would fix everything.

“_So where’s this lab you were talkin about_?” Everything.

“It’s in the other room” They were at Tim’s safe house. Tim… what was Tim supposed to be doing again? Oh right the samples, he needed to put the samples into the identifier. And then he needed more coffee. 

Tim trudged towards his lab. He pulled off his cowl as he walked. Behind him, he could hear Jason’s heavy footsteps following. 

Tim entered his lab and carefully put the dirt samples into the identifier. Jason leaned against the doorframe and watched. It raised the hairs on the back of Tim’s neck. Jason didn’t say anything. He just watched Tim as he set the machine to search and identify the samples and where they could have come from. Tim was feeling incredibly awkward. 

“Do you want something to drink?” He asked because he felt compelled to fill the awkward silence.

Jason regarded him for a moment.

“_Sure. What’cha got_?” Tim gestured for Jason to follow him. He made his way to his kitchen.

“Uh… coffee, water...juice?” Tim didn’t have the greatest selection of beverages. This was not his fault.

“_Water’s fine_.”

So Tim grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it from the sink. He handed the glass to Jason. Then he went to make himself more coffee. He had a feeling he was going to need it. 

“Are you even old enough to drink coffee?” Jason’s actual voice startled Tim. He whipped around to see that Jason had removed his helmet and was now only wearing a red domino mask. 

Tim knew he was starring. But it had been a long time since he’d seen Jason’s face. There was still that odd white streak in Jason’s hair. 

“I’m nineteen, that plenty old enough” Tim spluttered. Jason grinned. 

“Whatever you say kid,” Kid, that was new. Usually, Jason called Tim replacement as an insult. What had changed and caused Jason to be less murdery towards Tim?

Tim… Tim wanted the awkward silence to go away. He grabbed a clean mug from his cupboard and filled it with tap water, all while doing his best to ignore Jason, it was harder than it should have been.

Then it was just him and Jason sitting in his kitchen, sipping their drinks. And everything was just horribly awkward. What was Tim even supposed to say? Hey Jason, why are you working with me and not trying to kill me anymore? Yeah, that would probably go over spectacularly. 

Tim was distracted from his silent worry fest when Jason dragged himself out of his chair. He crossed the room to look at the map Tim had created to keep track of the mystery death victims. 

“What’s all this?” Jason asked. 

“I was trying to see if I could narrow down an area of where a new serial killer is working,” Tim responded.

“New serial killer? That wouldn’t be the one who leaves victims with impossible to identify causes of death, would it? Tim jerked up.

“Yeah, that’s exactly the one.” Jason nodded to himself.

“Whoever they are they’re smart. They’ve been taking people who wouldn’t normally raise any flags for disappearances. Folks in the narrows are scared.” 

“You’re looking into the case too?” Tim mentally kicked himself. Of course Jason was trying to solve this case. It was mostly affecting his area.

“Yeah. S’what I was doing when I spotted the super goons trying to nab a woman.” 

“You think they’re connected.” Tim prompted. 

“Yeah… yeah, I have a feeling in my gut.” Tim didn’t know how to respond to that. 

“So anyhow, when will those samples be done?” Jason asked. 

“In another hour or so.” Jason nodded.

“Great.” he finally turned away from the map. Tim watched him walk back to the kitchen. 

“Make me a coffee kid; this is gonna be a long night,” he called over his shoulder. 

***

Tim started at the results. Maybe if he stared hard enough, they would change into something useful. But no, nothing, nothing at all. He also felt Jason starring over his at the paper. 

“So, now what replacement?” Tim, Tim didn’t know what to say. But they needed to find those goons and to figure out what had killed the victims. 

Tim scowled at the paper while he thought,

“We need to figure out where their hideout is-”

“No duh pretender.” Jason cut him off. Tim turned around to face him. 

“Stop calling me that.” 

Jason’s unimpressed face stared down at him.

“Anyway, I was going to say we need to capture one of the goons. The best way to do that is to set a trap.” Jason was quiet. Then he nodded,

“And you want me to be the bait.”

“No, actually it would be better if I was. You don’t fit the typical victim of these guys. They look for easy targets, people who won’t be missed. I can pull off poor homeless person easier than you can.”

Jason started to scowl as Tim finished his explanation.

“There’s lots a folks who are poor an homeless you brat. Don’t go judging other people.”

Tim...Tim didn’t have a good response to that.

Then Jason sighed, “well if it means that much to ya, I ain’t gonna stand in yer way.”

Tim blinked, processed Jason’s words, “great!” he blurted “that’s great. When should we do this?”

“Tomorrow night, I’ve got business to take care of.” With that, Jason downed the rest of his mug and set it down. He pulled his helmet back on, and Tim watched him walk away towards the front door.

“Sounds like a plan!” Tim shouted awkwardly after him, “right, right, gotta find a disguise,” he murmured to himself.

***

“_Nice disguise replacement_,” Jason commented when he landed on the roof where Tim stood.

Tim shrugged awkwardly, “thanks.” It was a pretty good disguise if he did say so himself. He was dressed as a poor college student, and honestly, maybe he should have been worried about how easy it was to slip into the part, but Tim was a master of disguise, so he wasn’t that worried.

“_So, how we gonna do this_?” Jason asked.

“Well,” Tim replied, “I’m going to walk around and see if I can’t attract the attention of those goons. Since we interrupted them, they might still be lurking around looking for new targets.”

“_‘Kay, suppose that’ll do_,” Jason agreed, “_what happens when they come after you though_?” 

“That’s where you come in,” Tim explained, “You’ll distract them, I’ll get a tracker on one, and then we’ll follow them back to their hideout.” 

Jason was silent for a long moment, and Tim worried he’d disagree. Then he shrugged, “_alright_.”

Tim nodded and climbed down into the alley. He walked out onto the street and set off in a random direction. He could feel Jason’s eyes on the back of his neck, and for some bizarre reason, it was comforting.

The streets of Gotham? Not so much. But even as Tim wandered, he didn’t see more than the usual nightlife. 

And so it went, for an hour, then two, then three.

By the fourth hour, Tim was just about ready to call it quits, especially because he could feel impatience radiating from Jason at the other end of the comm. Maybe it was just Tim’s imagination, but he swore he could feel Jason’s irritated stare boring into the back of his head.

Tim ducked into an empty alley. He turned on the speaker to his comm.

“Hood?”

“_What_.” Tim winced at the reply. That was not a happy tone, not at all. 

“It’s been a while, should we try searching somewhere else in the city?”

“_It’s yer operation replacement_.” Great, Jason totally thought this was a waste of time, and he definitely sounded like he was pissed at Tim for it.

Tim was about to respond when a shadow fell across the alley. He looked up and found himself face to face with the goons from earlier.

They filed into the alley and spread out. Tim tucked his chin and hunched his shoulders, trying to project the image of a scared kid.

The goons didn’t say anything simply moved as a group to surround Tim.

“Who are you?” Tim pitched his voice to sound scared. “I don’t have much money, but I’ll give it to you, please just leave me alone,” he begged. 

The head goon, a big tortoise looking man, made a hand signal, and a pair of hands grabbed Tim. He tried to struggle, a fake one mind you, but the goons were too strong. 

Then a blow hit his head, and everything went dark.


	4. Cultists, Demons, and Danger

When Tim came to he was lying bound in the middle of a warehouse. There were people standing in a large loose circle, and they were chanting in what Tim realized was Latin. 

With a rising of sense of what the utter fuck, Tim realized they were cultists, and not just any cultists either, oh no, these were definitely the kind that sacrificed people. And who were probably about to sacrifice Tim. 

Out of the corner of his semi-closed eye, Tim was someone with a glowing medallion. He was probably the leader. 

As Tim squinted at the man, he realized he looked familiar. But the pounding in his head, probably due to the knockout punch he’d received, gave him trouble recalling- wait.

That was Mr. Dallas.

Tim groaned internally, of course, the strangely successful people were cultists. That made so much sense. So logical. 

Tim ignored the ominous chanting, which had now become one word over and over again, to focus on testing his bonds.

Luckily for him, they weren’t tied with someone trained in escape techniques in mind, and Tim still had all of his stashed gear. Score.

But as he finished cataloguing his gadgets, the floor began to glow a bloody red. 

That was going to be a problem. 

Half-hysterically Tim wondered if demons were punchable, then his thoughts raced to possible rescue which led him to wonder frantically where Jason was.

Surely he didn’t hate Tim so much that he’d let him get eaten by the supernatural right?

As if the universe had heard his desperate thoughts, something boomed, and smoke filled the warehouse.

As the cult members shouted, Tim used a concealed Batarang to cut the ropes holding his wrists. He had started to go for his legs when something wooshed down from the ceiling and snatched him off the ground.

Tim twisted awkwardly in his rescuers hold to try and get an idea of who they were. His eyes caught red, and he gave an internal sigh of relief.

He would have been too embarrassed to explain to anyone else why such third rate criminals had captured him as these. 

“_Alright replacement_?” Jason asked when they landed on a beam above what Tim now saw was a summoning circle.

“Yeah, thanks Hood.” Tim replied, “have you got my staff?”

Jason handed it to him, “_we’ve gotta get that necklace off the leader_.”

“Why?” Tim asked, “Is there something important about it?”

“_Just trust me_,” Jason ordered because clearly, he felt like being extra cryptic. He launched his grappling hook and swung down into the fray.

Tim placed a domino mask over his eyes and then realized he didn’t have a grappling hook. Looking around, he saw a staircase at one of the sides of the warehouse. 

He sighed in frustration, then took off towards it half running half climbing across the ceiling beams.

By the time he reached the ground, Jason was swarmed with overpowered goons as he tried to make his way towards Dallas. Tim launched himself off a nearby goon to get closer.

Dallas was using the commotion to run away, and many of the other cultists had already disappeared from view.

Tim ducked past another goon. He darted up and roundhoused one that was making a swing for Jason’s exposed back.

“_What took you so long pretender_?” Jason groused as he punched out a goon.

“Sorry, you didn’t give me a grapple,” Tim replied, swiping the legs out from another.

“_We’ve gotta get that necklace_,” Jason repeated, kicking a third away.

“So you’ve said!” Tim dodged as a goon lunged at him. 

“_If that shit head keeps it then- Shit_!” Jason grabbed Tim and flung them out of the way as the circle flared, and an oppressive heat filled the room.

“_Fuck, fuck, fuck, we’re so fucked_” Jason was repeating staring at the circle. The goons in it had fallen to the floor and were lying motionless. It was all very ominous. 

Tim couldn’t see anything, but he did trust in Jason’s sanity.

Huh, that was a thought he’d never expected to have.

“_We need to get that necklace. Now_.” The urgency in Jason’s tone brought Tim back to the present.

“What’s the plan hood? Is there something in that circle?”

Jason turned to look at Tim, and it seemed through the mask, evaluating him. Then he turned back to circle.

“_I’m going to launch you at the head fucker. It’s the only way to avoid the rest of the goons. Avoid the circle or face certain death_.” He looked at Tim expectantly, or at least Tim was assuming he was.

“Got it, snatch the necklace, avoid the circle,” Tim repeated.

Jason nodded, the remaining goons had gotten over their apparent shock and were rushing at them. Jason cupped his hands and Tim took a step back, then leaped. Jason tossed him into the air and his somersaulted at Dallas.

Tim landed a few feet away from Dallas how was yelling at… the air?

“Destroy them! Destroy the insects that would dare to get in our way! Destroy those that oppose our great lord Ag’dramug!”

Ag’dramug sure was a dumb sounding name, Tim supposed it must be the demon’s.

Tim was nearly in arms reach of Dallas when the man turned saw him and shrieked.

Tim lunged, but Dallas was fast, supernaturally so. 

He took off, and Tim gave chase.

Unfortunately for Dallas, and fortunately for Tim, he ran right towards the circle of goons that were fighting Jason.

By the time he realized he’d gone in the wrong direction, Tim was already within arms reach once again.

Tim tried to snatch the medallion, but Dallas smacked his hand away. It was clear Dallas wasn’t a trained fighter, but he was powered by demon magic, and that made it a little harder than usual to get the medallion.

But only a little.

Tim clamped a hand down on the medallion, using his other to swing his bow staff down to knock Dallas out. 

When he looked up, he looked straight into the eyes off a furious figure made of flames. It was very unnerving. 

Then Jason grabbed the medallion out of his hand and smashed it on the floor yelling something. 

Tim couldn’t hear it over the pounding his own heartbeat. The demon wasn’t that frightening-looking, but something about it made Tim want to cower under the nearest boulder.

“_Red Robin_!” Jason’s bellowing cry brought Tim back to his senses, just in time to block a punch from a goon.

A human, non-demon powered punch.

After that, it was short work to knock out all the goons. Tim was zip tying the last one when Jason approached him.

“_I found evidence that linked these wackos to the murders_.” 

He shifted on his feet awkwardly when Tim didn’t immediately respond.

“You could see the demon without the medallion.” 

It wasn’t a question.

Jason was silent for a beat, then, “_Yeah_.”

“Have you always been able to?” Tim didn’t finish his sentence, the meaning was clear, had Jason always been able to see demons, were those a thing now?

“_No_.” Clearly, Jason didn’t want to talk about it.

“Okay.” Tim would respect that.

***

“_Yer alright Red_.” 

Tim looked up from where he was watching the GCPD handcuff and remove the cult members. 

“Thanks Hood, you’re not so bad yourself.” It was an awkward reply, Jason shuffled for a moment, then he held out a piece of paper.

“_If you give this ta anyone else I’ll slit yer throat_.” He growled.

Tim took it. It had a number written on it. 

“_Gimme a call if any freaky shit starts going down_.” 

Without waiting for a reply, he turned on his heel and fired his grappling hook.

Tim was barley past “holy shit he gave me his number,” so he couldn’t reply.

But as he returned to his safe house, he couldn’t keep a grin off his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
I have ideas for the next two parts, but it'll probably be a while until I finish them. Feel free to leave a comment I'd love to hear what people thought :)


End file.
